


How To Control A Spy

by KatHarkness_Katara



Series: Three's Company 2 [1]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-01-14 22:35:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18485815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatHarkness_Katara/pseuds/KatHarkness_Katara
Summary: James Bond and Alec Trevelyan are spies-in-training, trusting only each other and Q. And the life of a spy always brings new challenges...A continuation of Only_1_Truth's Three's Company series.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Only_1_Truth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Only_1_Truth/gifts).
  * Inspired by [How to Bond with your Cat (Q)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4893208) by [Only_1_Truth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Only_1_Truth/pseuds/Only_1_Truth). 
  * Inspired by [How to Raise Shapeshifters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15875036) by [Only_1_Truth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Only_1_Truth/pseuds/Only_1_Truth). 



> This is part 8 of the series Three's Company, and will not make so much sense if you haven't already read the previous parts. https://archiveofourown.org/series/337555

** How To Control A Spy **

** Chapter 1 **

 

MI6 was the largest employer of Omega-Class in Britain.

Omega-Class, for those who never listened in any of the many, many school classes on Gifts, were individuals with Gifts deemed sufficiently dangerous as to require government registration. An unmanaged Omega Gift was one of the few reasons for terminating employment that had no legal defence, so Omega-Class were normally funnelled into government work of one sort or another. MI6 specialised in harnessing and controlling Omega-Class, so took most of them.

Of course, even the most espionage-friendly Gift wasn’t always attached to a personality geared for spy-work, and MI6 did not insist on it. One of their best surgeons was an Omega-Class with a Gift for shrinking, enabling some truly extraordinary keyhole surgery. But many Omega-Class were initially entered into the agent training program, to at least hone their Gift while they decided on what to do with their lives.

Omega-Class trainees were always paired with a non-Omega partner to help run interference. These non-Omega partners ended up with additional training and access to higher-classified information due to their partners’ special requirement.

Which was how Alec Trevelyan, raven-shifter and non-Omega, partner to telepathic Omega-Class James Bond, came to be sitting in a meeting with the other senior Omega-Class trainees and their partners, being briefed by a man who could only be described as “non-descript”, because that was _his_ Omega Gift.

Bill Tanner had recently retired from the field on medical grounds, after a serious knee injury. He was left with a limp, and occasionally using a cane; rumour predicted he’d improve, but never enough to return to the field. His Gift, to go unnoticed, had advanced him nearly to Double-Oh status before the injury. Now, his skills were redeployed to personnel management.

Today’s briefing was…disturbing.

“So far a total of seven MI6 employees are known to have lost their Gifts. All seven were found, or awoke to find themselves, in back alleys across this part of London.” Tanner gestured to a map with various markers. “All the victims had traces of a sedative and soporific compound in their blood streams that caused not only unconsciousness, but also amnesia of the several hours prior to administration. They were interviewed with a telepath present, but there was nothing left to find.”

The presentation flicked passed a diagram of the compound, and onto a list of Gifts. “There seems to be level of escalation in the Gifts lost,” Tanner continued. “First were B-Class increases in speed, personal regeneration, and strength, followed by one victim who had A-Class increases in eyesight, hearing and smell. Then a shape-shifter with the form of a Common European Adder, then our best Seeker-”

“MacGregor?” James asked, then gave a sharp nod as he answered his own question.

Alec sat up straighter. “If he’s no longer a Seeker, does that mean M won’t mind if we kill him?”

“Wait, wait, wait,” trainee Barrette interjected. “If MacGregor has lost his Gift, and we _all_ know Bond and Trevelyan are feuding with him and his partner, why aren’t they under suspicion?”

Alec frowned, trying to work out if they’d just been insulted. He and James had been feuding with MacGregor and his partner Hutchinson ever since the two full agents had roughed up their dearest friend, cat-shifter Q, while bringing him in. This was only about two days longer than they’d been feuding with Barrette and _his_ partner Davies, who had taken offense to Alec and James recruiting Q to help beat them in a game of capture the flag – said feud beginning only once said illicit aid became common knowledge in the division.

These were not the only feuds Alec and James were currently waging. Alec wondered what it said about them that they’d managed to make so many enemies within their own agency.

James had drawn himself up, bristling at the accusation. He was just opening his mouth to respond when Tanner regained control.

“Bond and Trevelyan were in lock-up for last week’s brawl the night MacGregor lost his Gift,” he announced. “By the way, however you two changed Hutchinson’s computer username to “I am a fluffy bunny”, Technical Support Services have better things to do that cleaning up after feuds.”

Alec smirked, and held out his fist for James to bump.

“Anyway,” Tanner continued. “Last night, an Omega-Class lost their Gift. A teleporter.”

There was a stir in the room. “Shit, Mason?!” someone exclaimed. “I can hardly believe someone caught him out, let alone got past Hind.”

There was a hubbub as various trainees began quiet conversations. Tanner cleared his throat. “Hind and Mason were not together last night, but Mason can’t remember what he was doing, or where he was,” Tanner interrupted. “Anything else is either their own private business or classified, understood? This meeting is not to discuss your fellow trainees. You have been apprised of the situation. We are treating it as a serious threat, and suspect one of you might be the next victim. Do not go out without your partner, watch what you eat and drink, report any suspicious activity, take care. Bladed weapons are authorised for concealed-carry for all trainees until the situation is resolved. Do not abuse this privilege. Dismissed.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Honey, we’re home!”

“Alec, really?”

Q sat up on his futon. “How was your day?” he asked.

“Not too bad,” James called out as he stepped into the kitchen. As James and Alec had graduated, and become full-time employees at MI6, they’d rented a small two-bed flat, and Q had moved in. The lounge had been converted to serve as his bedroom, on the odd accession he wasn’t curled up as a cat with James, or Alec, or both. A lot of bed-sharing happened in their flat. “Alec set a new personal best for marksmanship with the assault rifle. And we had a class on explosives. Great fun.”

“Can’t say I learned much I didn’t already know,” Alec grunted, flopping onto the futon and barely missing Q’s feet. “Then there was a special meeting. Any chance you feel like turning fuzzy?”

Q closed over the laptop and set it aside. “If you insist,” he murmured. He knew well enough by now that being a fluffy little kitten the size of a bread-loaf relaxed James and Alec when their spy-lives got too tense.

He closed his eyes and started a mental exercise his new Gift Tutor had taught him. ‘ _I am human, and I am cat. When I am in human-form, the cat is in me. When I am in cat-form, the human is in me. The cat is as much me as the human._ ’ He focused on the anatomy of his cat-form, from whiskers to tail, and accepted it as his own. Then he pulled on his inner power, and changed.

The mental focus exercise allowed Q to achieve a full, controlled, reversible transformation. There was no blackout, and no difficulty changing back again. It also helped him fully control his tail, whiskers, purr reflex, and other feline characteristics. It had taken him several months of one-on-one tuition, not to mention a course on the anatomy and physiology of the cat, before he could do it reliably. He still needed a few minutes to do the exercise, though. Changing on the fly still produced blackouts, difficulty controlling the cat-form, and the inability to change back on demand.

Q stepped up onto Alec’s lap, and settled down, the other shifter stroking his ears. Sharp feline hearing easily picked up the sounds of James slapping together a quick and easy meal.

“Someone’s taking people’s Gifts,” Alec explained. “And it’s been escalating. Last night it was an Omega-Class.”

Q sat up, his mind racing with questions. Before he could focus enough to ask any one of them, James was already answering.

“Not me, but one of the other trainees. We don’t know who, how or why, or who the next target is. We’re on high alert.”

Q looked at Alec, and blinked. Alec smirked. “He’s getting good, isn’t he? At least with us.” He sighed, and leaned back, scratching behind Q’s ear. “I’m worried about him. The Omega-Class, it’s Saul Mason. The teleporter, you know? And if you’re going to escalate from that…not much better than a telepath.”

“You’re worrying too much,” James called. “I’m no more likely to be targeted than quite a number of others. Besides, I’ll know they’re coming.”

“If you’re telepathy doesn’t blink out at the wrong moment,” Alec grumbled.

James came in, wiping his hands. “Then we’ll just have to stick together and watch each other’s backs. And Q’s, just to be safe.”

Q mrow’ed, and stood up, balancing on Alec’s chest. ‘ _I’m not helpless, you know. I don’t need to be baby-sat._ ’

“I know, but we worry,” James said soothingly. He reached out and petted Q’s head. “It’s more for our own peace of mind. It’s only MI6 employees so far.”

“That we know about,” Alec muttered.

Q swished his tail, making it clear he wasn’t thrilled. ‘ _Can’t I do anything to help?_ ’

“Not unless you know a way to get us enough information to start our own investigation,” James sighed.

“Wait…information…” Alec sat up abruptly. Q quickly extended his claws, gripping his shirt with a distressed cry. Alec scooped him up and held him steady. “Sorry, boff. But, it was you who changed Hutchinson’s username, right?”

‘ _Yes? He dislocated your shoulder…_ ’

“Yeah, exactly,” Alec continued, either assuming Q had answered in the affirmative or taking the question rhetorically. “So, you can hack MI6. Do you think you could get more information than was in the briefing?”

Q puffed himself up. ‘ _I can get all sorts of information!_ ’

“That’s a yes,” James translated. “Come on, the food should be nearly ready.”

Q hopped onto the top of Alec’s head, then to James’ arms, then to his shoulder. A few seconds and a loud caw later, Alec-the-raven joined him on James’ other shoulder. James petted one creature, then the other. “You know, it’s entirely likely M has people on it already,” he told them. “It doesn’t have to be us solving everything.”

Q just flicked his tail imperiously as Alec cawed a corvine laugh.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q investigates, and finds something truly disturbing.

** How to Control A Spy **

** Chapter 2 **

 

Q had met Saul Mason and Gregory Hind twice before. They were sort of friends of James and Alec, in that they weren’t feuding. They even occasionally had drinks together, and once stumbled back to James, Alec and Q’s flat while Q was studying.

Mason tended to randomly teleport when startled, and part of Hind’s job was to try to avoid him being startled. It didn’t always work, especially when Hind was tipsy, and Q had been treated to the young teleporter popping all over his flat every time raven-Alec croaked.

Hind was a cryomancer, with control over ice. As far as Q was aware, his only problem with his Gift was an over willingness to use it brutally. James had confirmed the rumour that once, Hind had deterred a mugger by freezing the jelly in his eyeballs. His favoured method of helping Mason avoid startling was to freeze anything he thought might be a threat.

Alec speculated that Hind secretly wished he had an Omega-Gift, and his belligerence was over-compensating for not having one. James had smirked on hearing that, but not commented.

Kitten-Q leant his head on James’ should while he rode in the telepath’s hood through MI6 and into Medical. He did not like Medical, especially the neurologist Dr Harper, but he liked Mason, and respected Hind, even if he was a little scared of him.

“Knock, knock!” Alec announced, following James. “How you doing, Saul?”

Mason sat up in his bed as Hind surged to his feet, bristling. “How you think he’s doing, Trevelyan?”

“Easy, Gregory,” James said. “We’re not trying to belittle anyone. We’re just checking up on you two, and thought we could lend you our therapy-kitten.”

_‘James!’_ Q mewed. _‘You’re belittling **me**!’_

James ignored Q, reaching over his shoulder to grab him by the scruff. Hind eyed him warily. “That’s your little boffin friend, isn’t it?”

“He’s very soothing when he’s furry,” Alec explained. “Plus, he’s getting better at not panicking and scratching everyone within range as a cat.”

Mason smiled wanly and beckoned. James carefully, gently set Q down in his lap, and Mason stroked the top of his head. Hind sat down again, scowling. “Just a warning, kitty-cat,” he huffed. “You can’t scratch anyone if your paws are encased in ice.”

Q looked at Hind and slowly, deliberately, stuck his tongue out.

Alec snorted with laughter. “Be good, Q,” he said, and put down Q’s satchel next to Mason’s bed. “We’ll be back at lunchtime.”

James gave Q a quick stroke, and followed Alec out.

Hind was still sulking. “Bond and Trevelyan just brought you here because they’re afraid of whoever got Saul, aren’t they?” he grumbled. “Those pricks are trying to use us as bodyguards.”

“Gregory!” Mason complained. “If their only motivation was protection, they’d have kept him with them.” Q brushed against Mason, purring loudly to show he was correct. “Besides, he is kinda cute.”

Hind huffed, and settled back while Mason played with Q’s fur. Q settled down; he’d not slept much last night, what with info-gathering *cough* hacking *cough* for hours. He dozed off, and time passed, until Hind spoke.

“How’s the claustrophobia?” he asked.

Mason sighed. “Well, I’m not panicking anymore,” he tried to joke. “I still feel so aware that I can’t just…pop away. The walls are actually keeping me in; they’re so…solid…”

Mason started breathing heavier, and Q stood up. He turned, and pressed a paw to Mason’s cheek. He let out a tiny mew, and rubbed his face on Mason’s chin while purring. Mason cupped kitten-Q, and went back to petting him as his breathing returned to normal.

“This is quite comforting,” Mason murmured. “Those two aren’t complete idiots.”

Q chuffed a cat-like laugh, and even Hind smiled slightly. The cryomancer reached out and scratched Q behind the ear.

“You know, I wanted to be a shifter,” Hind told Q. “A big dog, like a mastiff, or a husky, or even a wolf. Something with teeth and attitude. But all my family were Elementals…”

Q nodded. Gifts usually followed family lines, though not always. Two with similar Gifts would normally produce a child with a similar sort of Gift, and two with wildly different Gifts generally either gave the child one similar to one of the parents, or something completely different from either. And of course there was also random chance. Gift inheritance was very little understood.

“Mum was a terramancer, and Dad a hydromancer,” Hind continued. “For a while, I kinda hoped Mum had cheated on Dad, but I think we can be fairly sure she did not. Anyway, they both died in a head-on collision with another car.”

“My parents,” Mason murmured. “I had no-one left to take me in, but Gregory’s gran adopted both of us. We’ve been together ever since.”

The two linked hands, and Q was strongly reminded of the relationship between James and Alec. A little clan of two.

Q settled down and wondered what it would be like to suddenly be stripped of his fur and tail. To no longer be able to sleep curled up on James’ chest, or play animal-tig with Alec. No hiding in jackets or hoods. He’d only been shifting for less than two years, and losing that would…diminish him.

If he could track down what had happened to Mason, there may be a chance it could be reversed.

Delicately, he stepped off the teleporter and sat at the edge of the bed before closing his eyes. _‘I am cat, and I am human. Even though I am in cat-form, the human is in me. It’s time to be human again.’_ He felt fabric moving as hindquarters became legs, and opened his eyes.

Mason and Hind were watching him. He smiled weakly. “I get terribly claustrophobic,” he offered. “When I’m a cat, and in too-small a space for a human.”

Hind snorted, and folded his arms.

“My main skills are with computers,” Q explained. “And it can be useful for more than just aiding James and Alec in their feuds.” He grabbed the satchel Alec had left for him and pulled out his laptop. “Now, let’s see if we can re-trace your steps, shall we?”

 

* * *

 

 

Q blinked, and looked up at last. Mason was asleep, with a feathery heap of Alec on his stomach. Hind was still awake, glancing between the door and window occasionally, but looking drowsy. James was sitting right next to him, focused entirely on Q.

“You zoned out while hacking again,” James explained quietly. “At least this time you ate when we put sandwiches in your hand.”

Q stretched and cracked his back. “Well, I did find out quite a bit,” he said. “I have some rather bad images of the people who are mostly likely responsible, and a probable location for where they caught the victims.”

“That’s great!” James smiled. “We’ll get them in no time.”

“It’s…not that simple,” Q hedged. “Erm…”

“What?” Hind growled.

Q looked around. Alec and Mason were awake now, and were watching curiously. He sighed, and played a short clip from the first piece of footage he’d found. It was focused on a street, and only just showed the edge of an empty alley. Then suddenly, too suddenly for normal movement, two figures appeared in the alley. One slumped to the floor, and the other vanished.

“That’s Saul,” Q explained, pointing to the person on the ground. “Your Gift wasn’t lost, as such. It was stolen.”


	3. Chapter 3

** How to Control A Spy **

** Chapter 3 **

 

Q rubbed his face in exhaustion. Part of him, a very large part of him, just wanted to turn cat and curl up with James and Alec. The more sensible part of him knew that a) the stress of the investigation was getting to him, and b) they didn’t have time for that.

“Q?” James asked quietly. “How’s it going?”

Q looked around at him. “I think I’ve found where the Gift thieves are,” he said. “But…what do we do now?”

“Take me through what you’ve got,” James said.

Alec had volunteered his bedroom as Q’s study, and Q had stuck up a giant map, covering it with printed out CCTV footage thumbnails that spiralled down to a single point. This single point had a little flag, to which Q had tied a bit of string leading to a collage of shots of that location. Q wasn’t entirely sure why he’d done that, because he knew where to look to find his collage, but there must be reason why it’s always done in cop shows.

“The thief is good,” Q explained. “I can’t get any CCTV images to identify him. I couldn’t even track him very well. Luckily, he turned into a snake this one time, and with some effort I actually managed to follow him home. To this pub, _The Red Lion_. They could only have got a more clichéd name if the called it the King’s Arms.” James snorted, and Q grinned briefly. “There’s a camera on the door. I can confirm that all of our victims entered the pub through the front door approximately four to six hours before being left in the alleys. As you can see, it’s fairly close to several of MI6’s secure housing blocks, so it’s not exactly unusual for a number of MI6 employees to visit it.”

“Mason said he wanted to go out for a drink,” James recalled.

Q nodded. “He and Gregory live just around the corner.”

James smiled. “Well, if you’ve got a location, and good evidence to prove it, we know where to go,” he said. “We’ll present it to Tanner, get together a team, and raid the place.”

Q hugged James. He’d felt…left out, almost, when James and Alec spent hours, sometimes days at a time away at MI6. He didn’t blame them, of course, but having this opportunity to help with the spy business had brought into his attention just how apart from their lives he’d been feeling.

The last year had been such a departure from the early days of sneaking James’ telepathy past their classmates, and Q’s presence past James and Alec’s handlers. Q went to class, came home, studied, ran around in fur and occasionally went into to MI6 to sign more paperwork. James and Alec went to training days, training weekends, training weeks, all sorts of stuff that even when they illicitly told him about it, wasn’t nearly as interesting to hear about as it would have been to do. He felt like he was contributing again.

The little smirk on James’ face seemed to say he’d picked up on all that, and was glad to have Q’s help.

 

* * *

 

 

James dragged Alec out of Tanner’s office. Neither was happy.

“Can’t you see a good lead when it’s smacking you in the face?!” Alec snarled. “It’s like you don’t want these damned Gift-thieves caught!”

James kept tugging his friend away. The little he’d got telepathically from Tanner indicated he was planning on kicking the intel up the ladder, and let his superiors decide what to do, because he just didn’t feel secure enough in his position yet.

Alec growled, and shifted, James losing his grip as hoodie became feathers. He squawked, and settled on James’ shoulder.

Q stood up from where he’d been waiting. “I take it it didn’t go well?” he asked.

“Still got more options,” James grunted. “Alec, do calm down.” He gently petted the corvine spy. Alec shuffled, and Q trailed after them as James headed towards his Gift-mentor.

They seemed to have picked up another person. The girl had dark hair and eyes, a mane of curls over chocolate skin. She was vaguely familiar.

“Um, James?” Q said. “This is Eve. We were talking, and well, uh, she’s worried about the people losing Gifts thing too, and what Alec just said…”

Q trailed off, looking uncomfortable. Eve looked…eager, keen, and like a predator who’d just noticed his prey was limping. James narrowed his eyes.

“Well, say goodbye to her,” he growled. “We’re not done yet.”

Q nodded, and gave Eve a small wave before drawing level with James. James felt some satisfaction as he realised Q knew to trust him, and to stay where he could protect him.

Regardless, Q had to hang back as James passed M’s secretary and, despite the man’s protests, pushed into her office. There was no way he could claim he didn’t know she was in a meeting; he didn’t care. A cold, vicious fury bubbled beneath his skin.

M’s guests spun as he entered, and M rose from behind her desk. “Bond, Trevelyan,” she snapped. “What’s this about?”

James inclined his head, showing respect more to maintain the agency’s appearance in front of M’s guests more than anything else. “Ma’am,” he said, and opened his mind, throwing his thoughts towards her.

M’s mind wrapped around his, and her ‘voice’ cut through the whirlwind of images, sounds, impressions. ‘ _Bond. Start at the beginning._ ’

James settled himself, both physically and mentally, and carefully cultivated the memories he fed her. Tanner’s briefing. Alec and Q’s worry. Mason and Hind. The camera footage, the same man teleporting and turning into a snake. Q’s map, and the other pictures he’d stuck up on the wall. The triumph of knowing they knew where to go. Knowing that they could get rid of the awful tension. Tanner merely passing on the information, to people who just didn’t appreciate how smart Q was.

He shut down that last thought quickly. Q was special; Q was precious. He didn’t trust M not to make use of him if she thought he could be used.

M’s voice came drifting back to him. ‘ _You may investigate on site, but do not engage. Do not put any civilians in harm’s way._ ’

The last instruction was a not-subtle dig at James’ habit of involving Q in MI6 business. He sent back an acknowledgement, before withdrawing his mind back into his own head.

“Out, Bond,” M sighed. “We’ll talk about this later.”

James nodded. He hadn’t got permission to let loose, like he’d hoped, but M was allowing him to proceed. “M,” he said, and turned to leave.

“One of the more promising trainees,” M was explaining to her guests. “I’ve been training him personally, but he can get a little…insistent.”

James didn’t hear the answer as the door closed behind him.

Alec, who’d sensibly kept quiet, cawed quietly. “In minute,” he told his oldest friend. They had to collect Q first.

Q was hanging back just beyond the door to the outer office, and once more he was not alone. Eve had reappeared.

“She wants to help,” Q explained helplessly, looking ever-so-slightly befuddled by the sudden attention.

Suddenly, Alec swept off James’s shoulder. He landed on booted feet. “I remember you now, Evie,” he said. “You better not have Compelled Q.”

James blinked. Compulsion was, if anything, even more tightly controlled than his own telepathy. And now he remembered Eve, too. She was a new Omega trainee, without a partner as yet.

“Look, I really try not to, but I was trying to be persuasive,” Eve said, wringing her hands nervously. “I might have accidently given him a little touch?”

“And what were you trying to get from him?” Alec demanded. James could well understand his righteous indignation, but also sensed no deceit from Eve, and knew first-hand how hard it could be to keep mental Gifts in check.

Eve squared up. “If you’re taking on those bastards who’ve been mucking with people’s Gifts, I want in,” she declared.

Alec bristled, but James jumped in first. “Why?” he asked. “You don’t know anyone affected. Why take it personally?”

“None of your business,” Eve scoffed.

“And if we think it is?” Alec asked.

“Alec, James,” Q interrupted. They turned to their little boffin. “Do you really need to pry her secrets out?” he asked. “What’s the point?”

James cocked his head, thinking. Actually, having another agent might come in handy. “As long as it’s nothing that might bite us,” he mused, and Eve shook her head. “I think we might want to discuss this. Come on, I’m sure there’s an office somewhere.”


	4. Chapter 4

** How To Control A Spy **

** Chapter 4 **

 

Q felt Alec drape his arm over his shoulder and tried not to give away his nervousness.

A couple of packs of hair dye and some bleach had turned James and Alec brunette, while Q for once was the blonde. James had also used a sharpie to give himself some ink, both to help disguise his facial features and to publically acknowledge his telepathy, for once. It was the “T” on his hand that made him so keen to disguise himself; lest someone recognise him, either from previous acquaintance, or in the future.

But publically going about as a telepath was most likely to attract the attention of the Gift-thief.

That was the vague plan, anyway. James would be the bait, and also have a listen in for any interest in him. Q had his laptop out, so he could identify and gain intel on any suspects. Alec was pretending to be Q’s boyfriend. When Q and James identified the most likely candidate, Eve would come in and sweet-talk/Compel them into giving away a little too much. Ideally, she’d convince him to recruit her, and offer to prove herself by seducing James. Best outcome would be if Eve and James were taken to the thief’s base of operations, but there was a decent chance they’d end up with plenty of information for M either way.

James leaned back in his chair, once again flashing his “T” mark for the whole pub to see. “There’s quite a few distrustful people,” he said quietly. “A few vaguely curious, two very interested. I think a fair few haven’t noticed, or just don’t care.”

“Can you get anything more?” Alec asked, leaning on Q’s shoulder while Q dug into MI6’s facial recognition program.

“Not yet.” James half-drained his pint and frowned. “I’ll keep trying.”

“Can you point out the two who are very interested?” Q asked.

“No, but they’re both…more towards the bar.”

“Alright,” Q murmured. “Pictures. Alec, James, get phones out, make something up to point them around the place.”

He focused on securing his link to the program, while Alec and James started discussing some game they’d probably made up right that second. After a minute, photos started trickling in as the trainee agents messaged them to Q. He loaded them into the program and set the comparisons going. They ran against both MI6’s mugshot database, and also the poor-quality CCTV footage of the suspect.

He drained his coke, and checked the other glasses. “James, could you get this round?” he asked. He wiggled up closer to Alec. “I’m just so cosy here…” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “And try getting a better read of those interested people.”

James chuckled and stood. “Whatever the little love-bird wants,” he said, and sauntered up to the bar.

The laptop beeped with the first results. Most of the people near the bar were ruled out as the thief, although two were identified as MI6 admin staff. A few more pictures came out as being at the wrong angle for the MI6 files. Q bit his lip; he’d hoped it would be easier than this, because while he could check out DVLA and Passport Office databases, and use CCTV to get alibis for the possible-thieves, it would be so much quicker if he could directly identify the thief, and find him in MI6’s database.

He made a play of showing Alec a funny meme so he could see who they needed more photos of. Alec hummed and chuckled, but Q could see how tense and alert he was.

James returned and slid three drinks around the table. “The barman likes me,” he said. “I think he’s fallen for my seductive charms.” He smirked. “I think that’s one of the interests I picked up on earlier,” he whispered. “But he was definitely thinking about my abs.”

“Could you pin down the other interest?” Q asked.

“One of these guys.” James flicked through his pictures and showed off three. One was obviously not the man in the footage, one had the searches still in progress, and one was on the list of needing better pictures.

Q absently directed James and Alec to re-photograph the last suspect, and concentrated on speeding up the search for the other man. The MI6 database came up empty, and the comparison to the CCTV shots was still inconclusive, so Q grumbled and started the link-up to the DVLA’s drivers database. He focused on twisting in and out of secure systems, letting James and Alec worry about the other guy.

He’d got as far as a name and address, when the new photos came. He set the initial comparisons going, and almost instantly, there was a result. The last man had a higher-than-average likeness with the thief.

“I think that’s him,” Q murmured. “I do believe we’ve found him.”

“Which one?” Alec asked.

Q gestured, and James narrowed his eyes. “I’ll try getting into his head. You have an identity yet?”

“Working on it,” Q mumbled, turning back to the laptop.

He cancelled the rest of the searches, narrowing it down to the one man. And sure enough, he soon had an ID – straight from MI6’s roster of field agents.

He raised a hand and subtly slipped an earpiece in. “His name is Tiago Rodriguez. He’s been a field agent for five years, and is a pyromancer. And now also a teleporter, snake shifter, and probably all the rest.”

“ _Understood, Q,_ ” Eve said through the earpiece. “ _Description?_ ”

“He’s sitting at the bar, dirty blonde, tall, muscular, naturally,” Q related. “He’s got what looks like a whisky.”

“I can’t get much of a read on him,” James grumbled. “But I’m not getting much off anyone. He’s interested in me, definitely, but cautious.”

“James is just getting an empathic read,” Q related. “He’s interested, but not acting on it.”

“ _Understood,_ ” Eve responded. “ _Coming in in a minute. I’m muting my end, just in case._ ”

“Got it,” Q acknowledged. “Keeping my end open and recording.”

A minute later, Eve sashayed through the door. She paused, and looked around as though evaluating her options for a night of fun. She smiled, slightly predatorily, and slid up to Rodriguez.

“ _Hey,_ ” she purred. Even over the earpiece, Q could hear sultry allure pouring off his new friend. “ _May I buy you a drink?_ ”

Q tweaked the settings, so he could hear Rodriguez’s response. “ _-girl like you._ ”

Eve grinned, and signalled the bartender. “ _Same again for him, and rum and coke for me,_ ” she asked.

They descended into small talk, while James and Alec kept up a running cover conversation about the rugby, and Q started checking the CCTV outside the pub for Rodriguez entering every night someone lost a gift.

“ _Y’know, there’s something about you, Tiago,_ ” Eve said. “ _Something…powerful. Dangerous. May I ask, what’s your Gift?_ ”

Rodriguez leant in close to her, and made a gesture obscured by their bodies. Eve gasped appreciatively. “ _You like?_ ” Rodriguez asked.

“ _Wow, talk about playing with fire,_ ” Eve purred. “ _You’re a lucky, lucky guy._ ”

“ _Oh?_ ” Rodriguez asked. “ _What did you get?_ ”

Eve snorted. “ _I can make dandelions in flower accelerate to the seed-clock stage. Just dandelions. I can’t even get them from bud to flower. How lame is that?_ ”

Q suppressed a giggle. There were people who could accelerate the maturity of plants, to various degrees, so it wasn’t too unusual a Gift, but considering dandelions were generally regarded as weeds, that was a particularly useless variant.

Eve leaned in to Rodriguez. “ _Let me tell ya, I always wanted a cool Gift. Maybe not an Omega, but something neat. It must be wonderful to have fire at your fingertips. Or, I dunno, something. Y’know what I mean?_ ”

“ _I think I get you,_ ” Rodriguez nodded. “ _You have my sympathies. I take it you’re trying to find a partner to live vicariously through?_ ”

Eve laughed. “ _Well, unless you know a way of giving me a cool Gift._ ” A strange sort of look crossed Rodriguez’s face. Eve titled her head, and before she even started to speak, Q could tell she was turning up the Compulsion. “ _Can you give me a cool Gift?_ ”

Rodriguez’s eyes almost glazed over. “ _Maybe_ …” he murmured. “ _Perhaps…_ ”

Eve sat up straight. “ _Really?_ ” she asked. “ _Like, say…that Telepath over there?_ ”

Rodriguez blinked several times. “ _If you can lure him out,_ ” he hinted.

“ _If you give me his Telepathy, I’ll do anything for you,_ ” Eve swore.

Rodriguez grinned. “ _Why not? Here, take this pill. Put it in his drink, then you’ll have fifteen minutes to get him out the back. I’ll meet you there._ ”

Eve took the little pill. “ _I can do that. But…might be difficult to chat him up if I’ve just spent the last half hour with you…_ ”

Rodriguez suddenly snarled, and Q could hear him even without the earpiece. “I told you, girl, I’m not interested in taking you home. Get lost.”

Eve looked momentarily shocked, then quickly recovered. “Shoulda said so earlier,” she announced. “Sorry your signals were so mixed.” She downed her rum and coke, and moved away from Rodriguez.

As the other patrons returned to their own drinks and conversation, Eve made a show of scanning for her next target. Obviously, she fixed on James.

It was rather embarrassing to listen to her chat up James, and surprisingly hurtful when James drew away from Q and Alec, apparently enticed away by the minx. Q reminded himself that this was just an act, that James would still be coming home with him and Alec at the end of the mission, and that Eve wasn’t seriously trying to take James anyway.

But the heart is a fickle thing, and Q’s was set on James.

He managed to shake off his envy only when Eve made a hand motion over James’ martini, bought along with a fresh rum and coke for herself. Q was almost certain she hadn’t really spiked the drink, but someone watching for such an act could be fooled into thinking so. Fifteen minutes later, she leaned forward and snogged James. He responded, and they both headed for the toilets.

Rodriguez stood, and casually followed. Then Eve moaned, and James gasped. “ _Eve? Eve, are you- Eve!_ ” he barked. Then he apparently transferred the earpiece to his own ear. “ _Eve’s collapsed, I don’t know why-_ ”

“Play dead!” Q hissed, hoping James had unmuted the earpiece but also thinking it as loud as he possibly could.

James said nothing more, but there was a meaty sort of thump. Then footsteps, and the sound of self-satisfied laughter.


	5. Chapter 5

** How to Control A Spy **

** Chapter 5 **

 

James came to with a splitting headache. The last thing he remembered was pretending to be unconscious, then taking a blow to the head. That had not been the plan. His telepathy was reduced to nothing but fuzz in his mental ears.

He opened his eyes and carefully looked around. He was strapped to a metal table, in a half-empty warehouse, and Eve was slumped unconscious on a nearby chair. There was a large contraption, covered in flashing lights and computer screens and wires connecting bits together. Just on the other side of the contraption was another table – without straps.

James tugged on his restraints. It felt like belts over his legs, abdomen and chest, pinning his arms by his sides. There was very little give. But he had a switchblade in his pocket, if he could just reach it-

“Now, now, now,” came a voice. Tiago Rodriguez stepped around the side of the contraption, smirking. “Just you keep your hands where I can see them, Bond.”

James started at his name, then cursed himself. No use denying his identity.

If anything, Rodriguez’s grin widened at James’ discomfort. “I admit, I didn’t recognize you when I saw you,” he said. “But when I _heard_ you, I knew you at once. The fake tattoo on your face was a clever touch.”

James glared, and swore. He swore at length, and in several languages. There didn’t seem much else to do.

Alec and Q would hopefully come after him soon. He had a nasty suspicion he knew what that contraption did, and it wasn’t good. He kept pulling at the restraints, but they weren’t budging.

He had to stall, and maybe make another attempt at getting his knife.

James ran out of swear words, and took a moment to breathe. Rodriguez chuckled at him. “Feel better?”

“Why, you bastard?” James asked. “You work for MI6, same as us. Why are you doing this?”

Rodriguez grinned, a shark’s grin, and popped across the room, cast a fireball, reappeared on James’ chest in snake-form, and then jumped back, returning to human. “See? I can get anywhere, have instant destruction when I get there, and when I have your telepathy, I can know anything as well. I am the perfect spy. Leaving all these Gifts in so many different people, that’s so…wasteful.” Rodriguez shrugged lazily. “Why let the talent be dispersed among the many, when concentrating it among the few is so much more effective?”

James stared at Rodriguez, astonished. “You’re mad,” he breathed. He slumped back, staring at the ceiling. “That’s insane for so many reasons. The presumption in denying others of their natural right. The hubris in believing you can safely contain that much power. The self-righteousness to think _you’re_ a safe pair of hands to put the power into.”

He reached for his knife again, half a centimetre at a time, using the hand farther from Rodriguez. There was a movement in the ceiling – a skylight, passed over by something big, black, and bird-like.

James resisted the urge to smirk. “What about Eve, though? What are you doing with her?”

Rodriguez looked annoyed. “I almost thought she was just a harmless flirt, until she hit me with that Compulsion,” he admitted. “Of course, that’s too dangerous to leave in her hands, and I’ll be so much more effective with it. Don’t worry, she won’t remember anything. I’ll just leave her to be picked up like all the others. I’m not a bad man, after all.”

James glared, thinking clearly enough that only the previous blow do his head prevented him from projecting, that merely refraining from killing his victims didn’t automatically make him not a bad man.

His fingers brushed the handle of his knife.

“How did you manage to get her, anyway?” he asked instead. “You didn’t have an opportunity to spike her last drink, and she passed out too late for it to be any of her earlier drinks.”

There was movement from the far side of the contraption, and someone looked around the side of it. James narrowed his eyes as he recognised him. “The bartender,” he growled. “Your little henchman grapping victims for you?”

“Oh, he’s much more than that,” Rodriguez laughed. “He built this thing. Technomancer, you know? Brilliant work. I’m lucky to have stumbled on him.”

James finally got a grip on his knife, and started working on pulling it out. “Okay, I’ll bite. How do you transfer a Gift from one person to another?”

The technomancer looked around again. “It’s really quite interesting,” he started. “See, when a person uses their Gift, the brain emits a special kind of energy. It varies from person to person, obviously. If you stimulate the brain in the right way, it draws on the Gift, whether the person is conscious or not. Then you can extract the energy, and place it in another brain. Then the recipient has more than one Gift, and drawing on the different Gifts-”

“Enough,” Rodriguez cut across the lecture. “Suffice to say, it can be done. Is it ready yet?”

“Um, nearly,” the technomancer mumbled, and busied himself in the machinery.

Rodriguez strode over to the other table and sat down. He picked up an elaborate headpiece and put it on before lying down.

James delicately pulled his knife out, and started sawing through the restraint.

“With all these Gifts you’ve taken, how come you haven’t taken your Technomancer’s?” he asked. “Surely leaving him free with such talent is a liability to your little…operation.”

“I need him to operate the machine, of course,” Rodriguez answered. “Even if I take his talent, I wouldn’t have his knowledge and expertise. He’ll be well-rewarded when I make Double-Oh.”

“Of course you want to be a crown assassin,” James scoffed. He looked over at the technomancer. “You really believe that someone willing to destroy his own colleagues to advance himself will honour any agreement? When he knows enough to do it himself, you’ll be waking up strapped to a table yourself.”

The technomancer flinched. “You need a second person to operate it,” he said. “And I’ve built in precautions, so he couldn’t use it afterwards.”

“Can you think of any way around them?” James asked. “If you can, he will be able to.”

The technomancer glared. “I’ll need to make upgrades,” he mumbled. “First thing tomorrow.”

James laughed, and Rodriguez shot him a dirty look.

The restraint was nearly through, and the shadow on the skylight had grown. But the technomancer had just picked up another headpiece…

The restraint gave, and James swung out at the technomancer with his knife, as the skylight shattered. The human form of Alec fell briefly, before becoming a raven again,

Rodriguez sat up, and started stumbling towards James while still wearing the headpiece tethered to the contraption. The technomancer stumbled back, and crashed into Rodriguez.

James twisted his grip on the knife to unfasten his restraints. He spotted a door opening, and Q coming in.

Alec reached head-height, and shed feathers. He dived for Rodriguez, who pulled on something in the contraption that sparked as he tried to get up.

Q pulled on Eve, then looked up at the struggle against the contraption. He suddenly lunged, turning cat as he crashed into the scrum.

The technomancer was reaching for something in the machine, and the contraption and four people were engulfed in sparks.

James finally freed himself, and sprang to his feet. The contraption was surrounded by billows of smoke.

A raven appeared out of the smoke, opened his beak, and breathed fire.

There was something more closely resembling a small explosion. A black and white cat stumbled out of the smoke. James grabbed Q by the scruff, scooped up Eve, and ran for the door.

A moment later, a sooty Alec dragged an unconscious and very much worse-for-wear Rodriguez. “Other guy’s a goner,” Alec gasped. “Took a flame to the face. But at least we got this one.”

The warehouse chose that moment to start obviously burning.

“M’s going to kill us,” James groaned.


	6. Epilogue

** How to Control a Spy **

** Epilogue **

 

Q buried himself in James’ jacket. He did not want to come out.

The world always seemed different to his cat senses, but the focus trick limited the sense of strangeness. Now, in cat-form without having prepared, it was almost overwhelming.

Plus, he was in MI6’s Medical, where nothing good ever happened.

James was curled up in a light doze, his jacket making a little tent for Q to hide in. He’d been given a mild sedative to stop him over-using his telepathy while his head injury cleared – Medical had given up on merely dulling the Gift, and just sedated James instead. Eve was laid out to sleep off the drug. Rodriguez had been dragged into the depths of the building somewhere, and if he was receiving treatment, it was in a cell. Alec was practically uninjured, if not mysteriously having two Gifts.

His bed sheets spontaneously caught fire. Again.

There was a pop, and Saul Mason appeared. Q stuck his head out of the jacket-tent and mewed to catch his attention.

Saul picked him up. “Hey, little kitten. Hey, Trevelyan. Look what I can do!”

“That’s brilliant, mate,” Alec grinned. “It just…came back?”

“Yeah!” Saul grinned. “The docs are checking everyone else, but it looks like whatever you did gave us our Gifts back.”

A thought hit Q, and he pawed at Saul’s arm, trying to convey his thought through mews.

“Rodriguez must’ve been stripped of all his Gift-energy,” James slurred, half awake and somehow still able to hear and interpret Q’s thoughts. “The stolen Gifts automatically returned to their originators, and his own ended up in Alec. Alec always was something of a pyromaniac, so he must have been a notably compatible host.”

One of the doctors stormed over to James, and stuck him with something to make him pass out fully.

Saul shook his head. “Anyway, thanks. A lot. I was starting to go insane.” He put Q back on James’ bed, and popped away.

The swarm of doctors and nurses around Alec dispersed, and the new pyromancer flopped back on his bed. Then he grew feathers, splayed on his back with wings outstretched and feet in the air. He coughed, and out came another wisp of flame.

“Well, this wasn’t quite what I meant when I told Bond you may investigate, but not engage,” announced M as she entered the room. “But I suppose I should have expected it.”

Alec flipped himself the right way up and cawed. This time, no fire issue from his beak.

“I suppose there’s not much point debriefing you, Trevelyan,” M told him. “Your co-conspirators are all out for the night, I see.”

Alec took flight, and fluttered over to James and Q. He pecked at James’ jacket, withdrawing Q’s tail. Q hissed, swatted at Alec, and curled up again.

“Young Mr Boothroyd stuck in cat-form again?” M asked. She continued without any verbal response – and Q remembered, she was also a telepath, and perfectly capable of translating like James normally did. “You and Bond, my office, two tomorrow. Try not to set anything on fire in the meantime. Boothroyd, we need to talk about your habit of involving yourself in MI6 affairs. And Eve Moneypenny is to see me tomorrow at three. I should be done with you by then.”

Q poked his head out. Eve’s instance on joining them in hunting the Gift-thieves had been curious, and he wondered if M knew why, and would divulge.

M sighed. “Miss Moneypenny is an attractive young woman, with the ability to make people do what she wants, a Gift that currently works best on those attracted to her. As you can imagine, there have been…comments. Poor girl feels rather desperately the need to prove herself.”

Q nodded, thinking his gratitude and understanding that such information needed to be kept in confidence.

M nodded to her corvine agent and feline guest. “Rest up, gentlemen. And don’t cause any more trouble.” She strode out.

Alec plopped down against James, and after a minute fell still.

Q disentangled himself. His laptop, sitting open next to the bed, was calling him. It had been all evening.

He laid a paw on the computer. Without touching the keys, the laptop woke up.

And as lines of code ran through Q’s mind, they appeared on the screen.


End file.
